Southern Edge of Jefferson (Location Key)

As the mule-drawn wagon carrying Addie's body in As I Lay Dying reaches Jefferson, the narrative provides a good sense of what it is like to enter the town from that side - at least in this one text. From the bottom of the "red sand" hill that rises to the plateau on which Jefferson stands, Darl can see "the massed telephone lines" and "the clock on the courthouse among the trees" that represent the town (229). Walking beside the wagon at this point, they see the first "negroes" who appear in the novel. Darl notes the "negro cabins" on both sides of the road, and a group of them indirectly are the cause of a confrontation between Jewel and a "white man" who thinks he has been insulted (229).